Strawberries
by Akiko Raikou
Summary: Where has our love gone? It’s still there, I can feel it, but it’s not the same. Cloud… After Cloud takes up a new job and is rarely seen, Tifa starts to lose faith. Where has their love gone? Takes place after AC; a Cloti oneshot.


**Okay! So I know I haven't posted anything in forever, and although I've been working on some things none of it was "ready" yet, but one night I just had the urge to start writing, and thus **_**Strawberries**_** was born! I know it's kinda a lame title but nevertheless I worked really hard on it and I hope you all enjoy! I do not own Final Fantasy VII.**

**Quick note: **_**Italics**_** are thoughts (but you probably already knew that)**

~o~

"What's the point?" Tifa muttered under her breath. He wasn't coming back. At least, not until she was asleep. And by that time, she wouldn't care. She'd be fantasizing in her dream-world, where everything was perfect; where Denzel and Marlene had a stable home, stable environment, school was never an issue; the bar was in good condition, bringing in customers. She made good money. She and he were together…No, wait- scratch that.

Was she even sure she wanted to be with him anymore? His absences were nothing new and she could deal without. She'd been keeping up with the family all day; he left early in the morning and came late at night. Leaving before she was awake and returning when she was asleep. Her days were lonely, and although she didn't like to admit it, when he was home and sleeping next to her…she felt safe, she felt warm, she felt invincible.

So maybe she could wait. Wait until he came home this time. And this time actually talk to him, get through to him. He thought what he was doing was right, right for them- Denzel, Marlene, and her. A small smile spread across her flawless skin. _That's just like Cloud. He'll work his butt off for everyone else; he knows we care and miss him, but he just doesn't show his emotions. He doesn't want us to worry. He doesn't want me to talk him out of it._

"This job is insane," She heard herself saying two weeks ago. "You're never home, and everyone misses you. We need you here, at home. Denzel and Marlene are growing up, and you're not here watching it happen. I want us to be a family, Cloud." _I need you_ _to be here, with me. No,_ she thought. _That's selfish._ But in the back of her mind she felt giddy with anticipation at the thought.

He was pouring himself a glass of water over the counter and glanced up at her briefly before chugging it down. She waited patiently, one hand on her hip. He let out a small sigh of relief and set the glass down. "Tifa," She felt her breath catch in her throat when he said her name. She loved the sound of his voice. "This _is_ for the family."

Her eyebrows pulled together and she bit her lip. "But we were fine before; I know this job brings in more money, but is it really all worth it if you're not here to see where it all goes? Or see the happy faces of the kids when they're having fun? I don't think it's worth it, Cloud."

"We'll see." He set the glass in the sink and walked over to Tifa, his big boots making hardly a sound on the hard floor. "You should get some rest," he whispered, touching her cheek before gently kissing her forehead.

"Look who's talking," She teased lightly, forcing a smile although inside she was concerned. Cloud nodded before retreating upstairs to the bedroom. He looked so tired; she could see the weariness in his eyes, in the way he moved. This new position took such a toll on him. And not just physically but mentally too. He never really seemed all there anymore. But that was to be expected when you're hanging onto consciousness from the end of a thread. She missed the old days. The days where they went on missions, fought for the greater good. Sure, it was dangerous but it was fun.

During those battles, and even after, they had pulled through, and their relationship had grown. It was pretty evident that the two finally admitted their feelings for each other, but now things were different.

Their love wasn't the same anymore.

It was still there, Tifa had no doubt about that. It had just gotten weaker, somehow. For the first few weeks she had let him go about his business and supported him the best she could. But she could only take so much without him. Their short time together made it hard.

So she had, in a way, given up. She had to give in to sleep, in order to wake up and have any energy to care for Marlene and Denzel. In the beginning, every day had been the same, with the curious eyes filled with only a child innocence as they would ask, "Where's Cloud?"

"He's working, sweetie."

Denzel's face fell and Marlene looked confused. "Again?"

Tifa sighed, inwardly scolding Cloud, wherever he was. "Yes, he's been very busy with a new project he's working on."

"Oh."

_Cloud, don't do this._ She thought silently, now sitting in the recliner, fighting sleep. Her lids threatened to crash, but she knew if she did she wouldn't be able to tell him. No, she needed to be awake and alert. _Hurry home, Cloud._

-

The door handle jiggled and a spiky-haired blonde stepped into the small bar, wiping off his feet on the mat before hanging up his keys on the wall. He was shrugging off his thick jacket when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He glanced up and his heart froze for a second. _Tifa!?_

The girl had passed out on the recliner, and from the door, it looked like she hadn't been breathing. On a closer note, he could see that her chest rose slowly and evenly. He let out a sigh of relief and looked her over. It was clear that she was tired, and if she was out here, then that meant she had waited for him. _Even though it would cost her in the morning._

He gently picked her up and held her bridal-style. Her familiar vanilla scent wafted to his nostrils and he breathed it in greedily. He held her for a moment, enjoying the moment until she stirred, murmuring "Cloud," so softly he'd barely been able to hear it. This brought him to the fact that it was probably a good time to get her back to the room and in a comfortable bed.

And so the giant-sword-wielding master headed up the stairs with his closest friend.

-

Light fluttered in from the cracks in between the window curtains, turning the pale white room into a warm, golden chamber. "Mhm," The girl stretched her fingers, grasping something soft. She realized, with a jolt, that everything was soft. Her eyes blinked open and met a familiar ceiling fan. She turned her head and stared at the light filtering through the window, not yet comprehending what was going on. Her brows furrowed and she frowned. _It's daytime? But then where's-?_ "He came," Tifa breathed. "Then left. Again."

The place to her left was empty and cold. _He must've left some time ago,_ she concluded. _Then what time is it?_ Much to her body's dislike, she got out of the soft refuge of the covers and stepped onto the cool wood floor, and slowly started making the bed.

Once cleaned up, Tifa moved onto step three- checking on the kids. But they weren't in their bedroom. _That's odd,_ Tifa thought. _It's only 7:30. They usually don't wake up until at least 8._ She descended the stairs, figuring they would be in the kitchen, attempting to make breakfast for themselves. And sure enough, right when she hit that bottom step, a strong scent of pancakes and fresh strawberries wafted towards her. A smile tugged at the corner of her lip. Denzel was a wiz at pancakes, but something faint disturbed her.

"I didn't know we had strawberries." She said as she turned the corner into the kitchen. There was a stack of pancakes in the center of the table, butter and syrup on either side, with three glasses of orange juice on the table. The basket of strawberries was in front of the pancakes. Denzel and Marlene sat at the far end, impish smiles present on their faces.

Tifa cocked her head to the side, giving them a what-are-you-up-to look and a tiny smile. They only smiled wider.

"We didn't," She heard a voice sound from behind her, and felt her heart stop. Her mouth dropped open and she spun around, gaping. Sparkling blue eyes met her chocolate ones.

"Cloud?!" Her voice was filled with amazement and wonder. She blinked, happy and confused at the same time. "You took the day off?"

"I took _every_ day off." He smiled at her, his blue eyes finally clear and his face full of the youth and spirit Tifa had always admired. He had flour on his cheek and he was wearing Tifa's pale blue apron. She noted the mixing bowl, flour, milk and broken eggs in the egg carton on the kitchen counter. It was a mess, full of flour and splatters of dough.

She giggled, starting towards him while he gave her a quizzical look. "You have flour on your cheek," She wiped it off with her finger and grinned up at him. "You made pancakes from scratch! I didn't know you could cook. I'll have to have you help me in the kitchen more often."

"I wouldn't let Denzel help," He stated proudly, glancing over her head at the boy. The Cloud look-alike smirked before gazing hungrily at the pile of sweet cooked dough in front of him.

Marlene looked up at him. "Can we eat now?"

"Of course," Tifa glanced back and nodded. Denzel dove straight into the pancakes while Marlene went for the strawberries.

"You even got strawberries," Tifa sounded impressed, raising an eyebrow at the blonde.

"We were out, and I thought it'd be a nice surprise," Cloud stated simply, but Tifa could see the hint of bliss in his eyes. He set a fourth cup of orange juice on the table and gestured to it with his head. "Want some?"

Tifa glanced at it and met Cloud with a sly smile. "Can I talk to you in the other room?"

He huffed lightheartedly. "I guess." He smiled when she rolled her eyes, following the girl around the corner and into the living room.

Tifa took a deep breath. This is what she'd been waiting for. He had finally come around. _But was it because he really wanted to?_ Another idea had struck her, making her have second thoughts. _What if he really liked that job? It sounds foolish; I don't think he did but just in case... I don't want to be responsible for taking something important away from him. _She stared at the little clock on the table to her left. "Cloud, you really changed. Back to normal, I mean. May I ask why?"

Cloud frowned. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

Tifa turned around and stepped towards him, her eyes searching his. "I want us to be a family, together, so yes. I think it is. But I want you to be happy, too."

His light eyebrows pulled together as he tried processing this. _What is she getting at?_ "I don't understand." _Tifa…_

"If you're unhappy without the job, then you don't have to quit because of us. I know I don't like it, and we all miss you like crazy, but we could work around it somehow. I just," She looked down, frustrated with herself. _So do I want him to go or not? Not, of course. Why am I making this so confusing! It was fine before until I messed it up! _"I just want to make sure you're okay with this decision, and you won't be mad."

Cloud couldn't believe what he was hearing. At first he thought she was telling him to take the job back, but only if he wanted to? "Tifa, the only reason I took that job was for this, for _us_. It was a choice I made because I thought it would benefit all of you. I finally found out that I was wrong. We don't need more money; I thought I could provide more for the family if I worked that position. When I saw you last night, passed out on the couch, I realized that it wasn't enough. And when I checked in on the kids before I went to bed, I saw how much they've grown. And I missed a lot of it in the weeks I've been gone." He saw her face fill with relief and tenderness. "Tifa, don't ask me to do something we both know was wrong."

The dark-haired girl held back a sob. After all, she was a fighter. Tears don't come easily and expect to win. She blinked to clear her eyes and found herself throwing her arms around the muscular form in front of her, burying her head into his shoulder. "Thank you," She choked out, feeling a stingy feeling in her eyes but couldn't control a single tear from trailing down her cheek.

He held her tighter, resting his head against hers, feeling her silky hair caress his cheek. He murmured comfortingly into her ear. "I love you, Tifa. And I'm not going anywhere."

"Cloud," His name came out small and soft, and yet it sounded perfect to his ears. Tifa sniffed, faintly unhappy that she had started to cry, but that was nothing compared to the great thing happening to them now.

He shifted his head back, causing her to look up at him. Without letting her go, Cloud leaned forward and angled his head, kissing away the tear track on her cheek.

Tifa practiced breathing in and out evenly; she hadn't felt this way in what seemed like years, instead of just a few weeks. Cloud slowly pulled away, but they were still in their embrace. She tilted her head up and pouted, though her eyes were sparkling. "That's all I get?"

Cloud smiled a real smile, pearly whites showing and all. His own beautiful blue eyes were filled to the brim with affection. "I was getting there," He leaned forward once more, kissing her passionately while she smiled into it eagerly.

It was what she remembered: firm and yet gentle at the same time. _Just like Cloud._ She breathed in the orangy-syrupy sweet smell radiating off his skin, felt the pressure of him molding his lips with hers, and she loved it.The kiss was indescribable. It was everything they missed in each other, and filled with even stronger energy for the future. In one word, it was magic.

Tifa pulled away, her brown eyes twinkling up at the man in her arms. "I missed you, Cloud. I'm glad you're back."

"Me too," The hero of Midgar agreed, another smile emerging onto his chiseled face.

"I'm afraid you're coming down with something," Tifa felt the blonde's forehead, a teasing look on her face. "You're smiling. A lot. What do they call that?"

His smile disappeared instantly and was replaced by a scowl. "I don't know," His eyes glinted mischievously. "You tell me."

Tifa gasped in surprise as Cloud dipped her, pressing his lips to hers fervently. She couldn't answer, and at the moment didn't want to. She was in heaven.

"Hey, Cloud-," Denzel popped around the corner but soon stopped himself mid-sentence once he noticed his guardians lip-locked. "Uh…" He stuttered, spinning around only to bump into Marlene.

"Denzel, what are you-?"

"Shhh!" Denzel put a hand over her mouth while she struggled. "Let's go back."

"But what's going on?" She persisted, peeling away his fingers and trying to get around the boy blocking her path.

"You don't want to know," he attempted to herd her back to the kitchen but she stomped her foot.

"Why not?" She insisted. _Geez, boys think they know everything!_

Denzel sucked in a breath, seeing as how there was no point in arguing. "They're _kissing!_"

Marlene looked at him, completely unphased and she raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"

He looked at her, puzzled. "What do you mean 'that's it'? Isn't that," He glanced away. "You know, weird?"

She cocked her head to the side while thinking about it. "Not really," She said after a while. "I know people who like each other do it all the time."

The color flushed from his face and his eyes widened in horror. "We don't have to do that, do we?"

She giggled, shaking her head. "No." _Not yet._ She grabbed his hand and led him away from the doorframe, away from the scene. She knew they would be seeing a lot of the two together more often, and she couldn't think of anything that would make her happier. Except maybe a certain brown-haired, blue-eyed boy. But that could wait; right now she was swelling with delight at Cloud and Tifa's success. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw warm smiles on both their faces.

~o~

**I really didn't know how to end it; I wanted something different and not so cliché or cheesy. That's why I decided to have Denzel and Marlene in the last scene. Plus, I wanted my audience to be able to tell the difference of Cloud's personality in the beginning of his new job and after. It was important to see how he could change from being tired and solemn all the time to a purely happy soul, with people he cares about (so I hope I didn't make him to OOC for you, but I thought he turned out pretty good!) **

**Please review! Tell me what you thought, and/or anything that you thought could've been improved.**

**Thanks!**

**~Akiko**


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